His whole attitude makes clear that he is hanging upside down on his own volition. If you look closely, the chain binding his leg is loose. He could easily get out of this situation.

Both his costume and pose are similar to the acrobats in Circe du Soleil.

I know this is a bit far fetched, but as I studied the card, I was reminded of the scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Luke Skywalker leaps down the chute to get away from Darth Vader and ends up hanging upside down at the very tip of Cloud City. The Gilded's Hanging Man recalls that sort of courage. Usually I think of the HM as a much more passive card.

I've just got this card out to have a look - my Gilded only came yesterday so I'm still getting to know it.

I see what you mean, he does look pretty animated. The Hanged Man usually just hangs there, pretty resigned to the fact that he's hanging. This Hanging Man looks like he's ready to move on, his foot is pushed against the wheel and he's looking to his left - maybe to his future.

I like this card it shows an aspect of the Hanging Man that you don't see very often, the fact that after the self-sacrifice you can move on, nothing stops the same forever, things move on.

Turned upside down, it looks like he is balanced on the wheel, moving forward, wind blowing his har back, almost like riding a unicycle. Also, the chians hanging loose are broken, there is part of a link on each end, not ending in a completed link.

This card has a sense of movement to it that other Hanged men don't have. Perhaps he is about ready to finish his contemplation and move forward with whatever it it he has decided, or just signifying this state of deep thought is so fleeting that is seems as if you've never stopped to think in the first place

He has made a choice his way and is ready to get on with it. The broken links seem to say he won't be confined to doing things the way society expects him to. By not hanging still, he is drawing attention to the fact that he does things differently.
Desert Dreamer

I always liked the fact that there's nothing in the background other than sky, which indicates that he's quiet high up (a bit like the fool, but the fool looks more like he's levatating). Perhaps an olde worlde bungee jumper...?!

I got a very strong 'liberating' feel about this card. Almost like to hang is to be free and to not worry if others thing your actions/viewpoints are a bit odd... Almost as if the chains that bind us are our own fears. But I digress..!

I read for a lady a while back and this card came up. After talking it out, it seemed to literally imply for her a state of hanging in limbo. I had never thought of it this way, and it was a little different spin that I found interesting.

He is calmer in this deck, isn't he? I kind of see him as someone a bit tangled up in things. Like an acrobat who was trying to do something fancy to impress, but who ended up tangled in his ropes. He seems fatalistic about it, though. Like, well, these things happen. I think he can release himself if he tries.

I always think of him in this deck as someone who got too caught up in worrying about doing for others rather than doing for himself. He lost focus, and got all tangled up.

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